US embassies across the world have been ordered by the Trump Administration to put an immediate halt to visa interviews for foreign students.
According to reporting by US news site Politico, the US is planning to monitor social media posts of all foreign students planning to study in the country.
A briefing issued from Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent on Tuesday ordered embassies to stop arranging future interviews.
Trump administration halts US student visa interviews
The message sent by the state department said: “Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel (separate telegram), which we anticipate in the coming days”.
Reports said vetting of social media posts by people applying to study in the US will require consular staff to look through comments and posts on platforms such as X, Instagram, and TikTok for content perceived to threaten national security.
There are currently more than one million foreign students in the US, and they contributed approximately $448bn to the national economy in 2023-2024, according to National Association of Foreign Student Advisers data.
Foreign students support around 380,000 jobs in the USA.
